Progressive introduction of network softwarization in operational telecom networks: advances at architectural, service and transport levels

Technological paradigms such as Software Defined Networking, Network Function Virtualization and Network Slicing are altogether offering new ways of providing services. This process is widely known as Network Softwarization, where traditional operational networks adopt capabilities and mechanisms inherit form the computing world, such as programmability, virtualization and multi-tenancy. This adoption brings a number of challenges, both from the technological and operational perspectives. On the other hand, they provide an unprecedented flexibility opening opportunities to developing new services and new ways of exploiting and consuming telecom networks. This Thesis first overviews the implications of the progressive introduction of network softwarization in operational networks for later on detail some advances at different levels, namely architectural, service and transport levels. It is done through specific exemplary use cases and evolution scenarios, with the goal of illustrating both new possibilities and existing gaps for the ongoing transition towards an advanced future mode of operation. This is performed from the perspective of a telecom operator, paying special attention on how to integrate all these paradigms into operational networks for assisting on their evolution targeting new, more sophisticated service demands.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Eduardo Juan Jacob Taquet.- Secretario: Francisco Valera Pintor.- Vocal: Jorge López Vizcaín

Infrastructure sharing of 5G mobile core networks on an SDN/NFV platform

When looking towards the deployment of 5G network architectures, mobile network operators will continue to face many challenges. The number of customers is approaching maximum market penetration, the number of devices per customer is increasing, and the number of non-human operated devices estimated to approach towards the tens of billions, network operators have a formidable task ahead of them. The proliferation of cloud computing techniques has created a multitude of applications for network services deployments, and at the forefront is the adoption of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Mobile network operators (MNO) have the opportunity to leverage these technologies so that they can enable the delivery of traditional networking functionality in cloud environments. The benefit of this is reductions seen in the capital and operational expenditures of network infrastructure. When going for NFV, how a Virtualised Network Function (VNF) is designed, implemented, and placed over physical infrastructure can play a vital role on the performance metrics achieved by the network function. Not paying careful attention to this aspect could lead to the drastically reduced performance of network functions thus defeating the purpose of going for virtualisation solutions. The success of mobile network operators in the 5G arena will depend heavily on their ability to shift from their old operational models and embrace new technologies, design principles and innovation in both the business and technical aspects of the environment. The primary goal of this thesis is to design, implement and evaluate the viability of data centre and cloud network infrastructure sharing use case. More specifically, the core question addressed by this thesis is how virtualisation of network functions in a shared infrastructure environment can be achieved without adverse performance degradation. 5G should be operational with high penetration beyond the year 2020 with data traffic rates increasing exponentially and the number of connected devices expected to surpass tens of billions. Requirements for 5G mobile networks include higher flexibility, scalability, cost effectiveness and energy efficiency. Towards these goals, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation have been adopted in recent proposals for future mobile networks architectures because they are considered critical technologies for 5G. A Shared Infrastructure Management Framework was designed and implemented for this purpose. This framework was further enhanced for performance optimisation of network functions and underlying physical infrastructure. The objective achieved was the identification of requirements for the design and development of an experimental testbed for future 5G mobile networks. This testbed deploys high performance virtualised network functions (VNFs) while catering for the infrastructure sharing use case of multiple network operators. The management and orchestration of the VNFs allow for automation, scalability, fault recovery, and security to be evaluated. The testbed developed is readily re-creatable and based on open-source software

End-to-end network service orchestration in heterogeneous domains for next-generation mobile networks

5G marks the beginning of a deep revolution in the mobile network ecosystem, transitioning to a network of services to satisfy the demands of new players, the vertical industries. This revolution implies a redesign of the overall mobile network architecture where complexity, heterogeneity, dynamicity, and flexibility will be the rule. Under such context, automation and programmability are essential to support this vision and overcome current rigid network operation processes. Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Network slicing are key enabling techniques to provide such capabilities. They are complementary, but they are still in its infancy and the synergies between them must be exploited to realise the mentioned vision. The aim of this thesis is to further contribute to its development and integration in next generation mobile networks by designing an end-to-end (E2E) network service orchestration (NSO) architecture, which aligned with some guidelines and specifications provided by main standardization bodies, goes beyond current management and orchestration (MANO) platforms to fulfil network service lifetime requirements in heterogeneous multi-technology/administrative network infrastructures shared by concurrent instances of diverse network services. Following a bottom-up approach, we start studying some SDN aspects related to the management of wireless network elements and its integration into hierarchical control architectures orchestrating networking resources in a multi-technology (wireless, optical, packet) infrastructure. Then, this work is integrated in an infrastructure manager module executing the joint resource abstraction and allocation of network and compute resources in distributed points of presence (PoPs) connected by a transport network, aspect which is not (or lightly) handled by current MANO platforms. This is the module where the integration between NFV and SDN techniques is executed. This integration is commanded by a Service Orchestrator module, in charge of automating the E2E lifecycle management of network services implementing network slices (NS) based on the vertical requirements, the available infrastructure resources, and, while fulfilling service level agreement (SLA) also during run-time operation. This architecture, focused on single administrative domain (AD) scenarios, constitutes the first group of contributions of this thesis. The second group of contributions evolves this initial architecture to deal with the orchestration and sharing of NS and its network slice subnet instances (NSSIs) involving multiple ADs. The main differential aspect with current state-of-the-art solutions is the consideration of resource orchestration aspects during the whole orchestration process. This is fundamental to achieve the interconnection of NSSIs, hence making the E2E multi-domain orchestration and network slicing a reality in practice. Additionally, this work also considers SLA management aspects by means of scaling actions during run-time operation in such complex scenarios. The third group of contributions demonstrate the validity and applicability of the resulting architectures, workflows, and interfaces by implementing and evaluating them in real experimental infrastructures featuring multiple ADs and transport technologies interconnecting distributed computing PoPs. The performed experimentation considers network service definitions close to real vertical use cases, namely automotive and eHealth, which help bridging the gap between network providers and vertical industries stakeholders. Experimental results show that network service creation and scaling times in the order of minutes can be achieved for single and multi-AD scenarios, in line with 5G network targets. Moreover, these measurements serve as a reference for benchmarking the different operations involved during the network service deployment. Such analysis are limited in current literature.5G marca el inicio de una gran revolución en las redes móviles, convirtiéndose en redes orientadas a servicios para satisfacer las demandas de nuevos actores, las industrias verticales. Esta revolución supone un rediseño total de la arquitectura de red donde la complejidad, heterogeneidad, dinamicidad y flexibilidad serán la norma. En este contexto, la automatización y programabilidad serán esenciales para superar los rígidos procesos actuales de operación de red. Las redes definidas por software (SDN), la virtualización de funciones de red (NFV) y el particionamiento de redes son técnicas clave para proporcionar dichas capacidades. Éstas son complementarias, pero aún recientes y sus sinergias se deben explotar para realizar la nueva visión. El objetivo de esta tesis es contribuir a su desarrollo e integración en la nuevas generaciones de redes móviles mediante el diseño de una arquitectura de orquestación de servicios de red (NSO) extremo a extremo (E2E), que alineada con algunas pautas y especificaciones de los principales organismos de estandarización, va más allá de los actuales sistemas de gestión y orquestación (MANO) para instanciar y garantizar los requisitos de los diversos servicios de red desplegados concurrentemente en infraestructuras heterogéneas compartidas que combinan múltiples tecnologías y dominios administrativos (AD). Siguiendo un enfoque ascendente, comenzamos a estudiar aspectos de SDN relacionados con la gestión de elementos de red inalámbricos y su integración en arquitecturas jerárquicas de orquestación de recursos de red en infraestructuras multi tecnología (inalámbrica, óptica, paquetes). Luego, este trabajo se integra en un módulo de administración de infraestructura que ejecuta de forma conjunta la abstracción y la asignación de recursos de red y computación en múltiples puntos de presencia (PoP) distribuidos conectados por una red de transporte, aspecto que no está (o ligeramente) considerado por los actuales sistemas MANO. Este módulo ejecuta la integración de las técnicas NFV y SDN. Esta integración está dirigida por el módulo Orquestador de Servicios, que automatiza la gestión E2E del ciclo de vida de los servicios de red implementando las diferentes particiones de red en base a los requisitos de los verticales, los recursos de infraestructura disponibles y mientras cumple los acuerdos de nivel de servicio (SLA) durante la operación del servicio. Esta arquitectura, centrada en escenarios con un único AD, forma el primer grupo de contribuciones de esta tesis. El segundo grupo de contribuciones evoluciona esta arquitectura abordando la orquestación y compartición de particiones de red y sus componentes (NSSIs) en escenarios con múltiples AD. La consideración detallada de aspectos de orquestación de recursos es el principal aspecto diferencial con la literatura. Esto es fundamental para la interconexión de NSSIs, haciendo realidad la orquestación E2E y el particionamiento de red en escenarios con múltiples AD. Además, se considera la gestión de SLA mediante acciones de escalado durante la operación del servicio en los escenarios mencionados. El tercer grupo de contribuciones valida las arquitecturas, procedimientos e interfaces resultantes pues se han implementado y evaluado sobre infraestructuras experimentales reales que presentan múltiples AD y tecnologías de transporte interconectando PoP distribuidos. Esta experimentación considera definiciones de servicios de red cercanos a casos de uso de verticales reales, como automoción y eHealth, ayudando a cubrir la brecha entre los proveedores de red y los verticales. Los resultados experimentales muestran que la creación y el escalado de servicios de red se pueden realizar en pocos minutos en escenarios con un único o múltiples ADs, en línea con los indicadores de red objetivos de 5G. Estas medidas, escasas en la literatura actual, sirven como referencia para caracterizar las diferentes operaciones involucradas durante el despliegue de servicios.Postprint (published version

Programmability and management of software-defined network infrastructures

In a landscape where software-based solutions are evermore central in the design, development and deployment of innovative solutions for communication networks, new challenges arise, related to how to best exploit the new solutions made available by technological advancements. The objective of this Thesis is to consolidate and improve some recent solutions for programmability, management, monitoring and provisioning in software-based infrastructures, as well as to propose new solutions for service deployment, management and monitoring over softwarized domains, along with working implementations, validating each point with punctual experimental validations and performance evaluations. The treatise starts by introducing the key concepts the research work is based upon, then the main research activities performed during the three years of PhD studies are presented. These include a high-level interface for network programmability over heterogeneous softwarized domains, an implementation of a protocol for service function chaining over non-programmable networks for multi-domain orchestration, a modular system for unified monitoring of softwarized infrastructures, a protocol for the employment of unused channels to augment the capabilities of the softwarized infrastructure, and a XaaS-aware orchestrator designed to operate over Fog computing scenarios

Next Generation Internet of Things – Distributed Intelligence at the Edge and Human-Machine Interactions

This book provides an overview of the next generation Internet of Things (IoT), ranging from research, innovation, development priorities, to enabling technologies in a global context. It is intended as a standalone in a series covering the activities of the Internet of Things European Research Cluster (IERC), including research, technological innovation, validation, and deployment.The following chapters build on the ideas put forward by the European Research Cluster, the IoT European Platform Initiative (IoT–EPI), the IoT European Large-Scale Pilots Programme and the IoT European Security and Privacy Projects, presenting global views and state-of-the-art results regarding the next generation of IoT research, innovation, development, and deployment.The IoT and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are evolving towards the next generation of Tactile IoT/IIoT, bringing together hyperconnectivity (5G and beyond), edge computing, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), virtual/ andaugmented reality (VR/AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation.Following the wider adoption of consumer IoT, the next generation of IoT/IIoT innovation for business is driven by industries, addressing interoperability issues and providing new end-to-end security solutions to face continuous treats.The advances of AI technology in vision, speech recognition, natural language processing and dialog are enabling the development of end-to-end intelligent systems encapsulating multiple technologies, delivering services in real-time using limited resources. These developments are focusing on designing and delivering embedded and hierarchical AI solutions in IoT/IIoT, edge computing, using distributed architectures, DLTs platforms and distributed end-to-end security, which provide real-time decisions using less data and computational resources, while accessing each type of resource in a way that enhances the accuracy and performance of models in the various IoT/IIoT applications.The convergence and combination of IoT, AI and other related technologies to derive insights, decisions and revenue from sensor data provide new business models and sources of monetization. Meanwhile, scalable, IoT-enabled applications have become part of larger business objectives, enabling digital transformation with a focus on new services and applications.Serving the next generation of Tactile IoT/IIoT real-time use cases over 5G and Network Slicing technology is essential for consumer and industrial applications and support reducing operational costs, increasing efficiency and leveraging additional capabilities for real-time autonomous systems.New IoT distributed architectures, combined with system-level architectures for edge/fog computing, are evolving IoT platforms, including AI and DLTs, with embedded intelligence into the hyperconnectivity infrastructure.The next generation of IoT/IIoT technologies are highly transformational, enabling innovation at scale, and autonomous decision-making in various application domains such as healthcare, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, energy, agriculture, transportation and autonomous vehicles, the military, logistics and supply chain, retail and wholesale, manufacturing, mining and oil and gas

Flexible cross layer optimization for fixed and mobile broadband telecommunication networks and beyond

In der heutigen Zeit, in der das Internet im Allgemeinen und Telekommunikationsnetze im Speziellen kritische Infrastrukturen erreicht haben, entstehen hohe Anforderungen und neue Herausforderungen an den Datentransport in Hinsicht auf Effizienz und Flexibilität. Heutige Telekommunikationsnetze sind jedoch rigide und statisch konzipiert, was nur ein geringes Maß an Flexibilität und Anpassungsfähigkeit der Netze ermöglicht und darüber hinaus nur im begrenzten Maße die Wichtigkeit von Datenflüssen im wiederspiegelt. Diverse Lösungsansätze zum kompletten Neuentwurf als auch zum evolutionären Konzept des Internet wurden ausgearbeitet und spezifiziert, um diese neuartigen Anforderungen und Herausforderungen adäquat zu adressieren. Einer dieser Ansätze ist das Cross Layer Optimierungs-Paradigma, welches eine bisher nicht mögliche direkte Kommunikation zwischen verteilten Funktionalitäten unterschiedlichen Typs ermöglicht, um ein höheres Maß an Dienstgüte zu erlangen. Ein wesentlicher Indikator, welcher die Relevanz dieses Ansatzes unterstreicht, zeichnet sich durch die Programmierbarkeit von Netzwerkfunktionalitäten aus, welche sich aus der Evolution von heutigen hin zu zukünftigen Netzen erkennen lässt. Dieses Konzept wird als ein vielversprechender Lösungsansatz für Kontrollmechanismen von Diensten in zukünftigen Kernnetzwerken erachtet. Dennoch existiert zur Zeit der Entstehung dieser Doktorarbeit kein Ansatz zur Cross Layer Optimierung in Festnetz-und Mobilfunknetze, welcher der geforderten Effizienz und Flexibilität gerecht wird. Die übergeordnete Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit adressiert die Konzeptionierung, Entwicklung und Evaluierung eines Cross Layer Optimierungsansatzes für Telekommunikationsnetze. Einen wesentlichen Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit stellt die Definition einer theoretischen Konzeptionierung und deren praktischer Realisierung eines Systems zur Cross Layer Optimierung für Telekommunikationsnetze dar. Die durch diese Doktorarbeit analysierten wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen betreffen u.a. die Anwendbarkeit von Cross Layer Optimierungsansätzen auf Telekommunikationsnetzwerke; die Betrachtung neuartiger Anforderungen; existierende Konzepte, Ansätze und Lösungen; die Abdeckung neuer Funktionalitäten durch bereits existierende Lösungen; und letztendlich den erkennbaren Mehrwert des neu vorgeschlagenen Konzepts gegenüber den bestehenden Lösungen. Die wissenschaftlichen Beiträge dieser Doktorarbeit lassen sich grob durch vier Säulen skizzieren: Erstens werden der Stand der Wissenschaft und Technik analysiert und bewertet, Anforderungen erhoben und eine Lückenanalyse vorgenommen. Zweitens werden Herausforderungen, Möglichkeiten, Limitierungen und Konzeptionierungsaspekte eines Modells zur Cross Layer Optimierung analysiert und evaluiert. Drittens wird ein konzeptionelles Modell - Generic Adaptive Resource Control (GARC) - spezifiziert, als Prototyp realisiert und ausgiebig validiert. Viertens werden theoretische und praktische Beiträge dieser Doktorarbeit vertiefend analysiert und bewertet.As the telecommunication world moves towards a data-only network environment, signaling, voice and other data are similarly transported as Internet Protocol packets. New requirements, challenges and opportunities are bound to this transition and influence telecommunication architectures accordingly. In this time in which the Internet in general, and telecommunication networks in particular, have entered critical infrastructures and systems, it is of high importance to guarantee efficient and flexible data transport. A certain level of Quality-of-Service (QoS) for critical services is crucial even during overload situations in the access and core network, as these two are the bottlenecks in the network. However, the current telecommunication architecture is rigid and static, which offers very limited flexibility and adaptability. Several concepts on clean slate as well as evolutionary approaches have been proposed and defined in order to cope with these new challenges and requirements. One of these approaches is the Cross Layer Optimization paradigm. This concept omits the strict separation and isolation of the Application-, Control- and Network-Layers as it enables interaction and fosters Cross Layer Optimization among them. One indicator underlying this trend is the programmability of network functions, which emerges clearly during the telecommunication network evolution towards the Future Internet. The concept is regarded as one solution for service control in future mobile core networks. However, no standardized approach for Cross Layer signaling nor optimizations in between the individual layers have been standardized at the time this thesis was written. The main objective of this thesis is the design, implementation and evaluation of a Cross Layer Optimization concept on telecommunication networks. A major emphasis is given to the definition of a theoretical model and its practical realization through the implementation of a Cross Layer network resource optimization system for telecommunication systems. The key questions answered through this thesis are: in which way can the Cross Layer Optimization paradigm be applied on telecommunication networks; which new requirements arise; which of the required functionalities cannot be covered through existing solutions, what other conceptual approaches already exist and finally whether such a new concept is viable. The work presented in this thesis and its contributions can be summarized in four parts: First, a review of related work, a requirement analysis and a gap analysis were performed. Second, challenges, limitations, opportunities and design aspects for specifying an optimization model between application and network layer were formulated. Third, a conceptual model - Generic Adaptive Resource Control (GARC) - was specified and its prototypical implementation was realized. Fourth, the theoretical and practical thesis contributions was validated and evaluated

Building the Future Internet through FIRE

The Internet as we know it today is the result of a continuous activity for improving network communications, end user services, computational processes and also information technology infrastructures. The Internet has become a critical infrastructure for the human-being by offering complex networking services and end-user applications that all together have transformed all aspects, mainly economical, of our lives. Recently, with the advent of new paradigms and the progress in wireless technology, sensor networks and information systems and also the inexorable shift towards everything connected paradigm, first as known as the Internet of Things and lately envisioning into the Internet of Everything, a data-driven society has been created. In a data-driven society, productivity, knowledge, and experience are dependent on increasingly open, dynamic, interdependent and complex Internet services. The challenge for the Internet of the Future design is to build robust enabling technologies, implement and deploy adaptive systems, to create business opportunities considering increasing uncertainties and emergent systemic behaviors where humans and machines seamlessly cooperate

Next Generation Internet of Things – Distributed Intelligence at the Edge and Human-Machine Interactions

This book provides an overview of the next generation Internet of Things (IoT), ranging from research, innovation, development priorities, to enabling technologies in a global context. It is intended as a standalone in a series covering the activities of the Internet of Things European Research Cluster (IERC), including research, technological innovation, validation, and deployment.The following chapters build on the ideas put forward by the European Research Cluster, the IoT European Platform Initiative (IoT–EPI), the IoT European Large-Scale Pilots Programme and the IoT European Security and Privacy Projects, presenting global views and state-of-the-art results regarding the next generation of IoT research, innovation, development, and deployment.The IoT and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are evolving towards the next generation of Tactile IoT/IIoT, bringing together hyperconnectivity (5G and beyond), edge computing, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), virtual/ andaugmented reality (VR/AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation.Following the wider adoption of consumer IoT, the next generation of IoT/IIoT innovation for business is driven by industries, addressing interoperability issues and providing new end-to-end security solutions to face continuous treats.The advances of AI technology in vision, speech recognition, natural language processing and dialog are enabling the development of end-to-end intelligent systems encapsulating multiple technologies, delivering services in real-time using limited resources. These developments are focusing on designing and delivering embedded and hierarchical AI solutions in IoT/IIoT, edge computing, using distributed architectures, DLTs platforms and distributed end-to-end security, which provide real-time decisions using less data and computational resources, while accessing each type of resource in a way that enhances the accuracy and performance of models in the various IoT/IIoT applications.The convergence and combination of IoT, AI and other related technologies to derive insights, decisions and revenue from sensor data provide new business models and sources of monetization. Meanwhile, scalable, IoT-enabled applications have become part of larger business objectives, enabling digital transformation with a focus on new services and applications.Serving the next generation of Tactile IoT/IIoT real-time use cases over 5G and Network Slicing technology is essential for consumer and industrial applications and support reducing operational costs, increasing efficiency and leveraging additional capabilities for real-time autonomous systems.New IoT distributed architectures, combined with system-level architectures for edge/fog computing, are evolving IoT platforms, including AI and DLTs, with embedded intelligence into the hyperconnectivity infrastructure.The next generation of IoT/IIoT technologies are highly transformational, enabling innovation at scale, and autonomous decision-making in various application domains such as healthcare, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, energy, agriculture, transportation and autonomous vehicles, the military, logistics and supply chain, retail and wholesale, manufacturing, mining and oil and gas

Integração do paradigma de cloud computing com a infraestrutura de rede do operador

Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaThe proliferation of Internet access allows that users have the possibility to use services available directly through the Internet, which translates in a change of the paradigm of using applications and in the way of communicating, popularizing in this way the so-called cloud computing paradigm. Cloud computing brings with it requirements at two different levels: at the cloud level, usually relying in centralized data centers, where information technology and network resources must be able to guarantee the demand of such services; and at the access level, i.e., depending on the service being consumed, different quality of service is required in the access network, which is a Network Operator (NO) domain. In summary, there is an obvious network dependency. However, the network has been playing a relatively minor role, mostly as a provider of (best-effort) connectivity within the cloud and in the access network. The work developed in this Thesis enables for the effective integration of cloud and NO domains, allowing the required network support for cloud. We propose a framework and a set of associated mechanisms for the integrated management and control of cloud computing and NO domains to provide endto- end services. Moreover, we elaborate a thorough study on the embedding of virtual resources in this integrated environment. The study focuses on maximizing the host of virtual resources on the physical infrastructure through optimal embedding strategies (considering the initial allocation of resources as well as adaptations through time), while at the same time minimizing the costs associated to energy consumption, in single and multiple domains. Furthermore, we explore how the NO can take advantage of the integrated environment to host traditional network functions. In this sense, we study how virtual network Service Functions (SFs) should be modelled and managed in a cloud environment and enhance the framework accordingly. A thorough evaluation of the proposed solutions was performed in the scope of this Thesis, assessing their benefits. We implemented proof of concepts to prove the added value, feasibility and easy deployment characteristics of the proposed framework. Furthermore, the embedding strategies evaluation has been performed through simulation and Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solving tools, and it showed that it is possible to reduce the physical infrastructure energy consumption without jeopardizing the virtual resources acceptance. This fact can be further increased by allowing virtual resource adaptation through time. However, one should have in mind the costs associated to adaptation processes. The costs can be minimized, but the virtual resource acceptance can be also reduced. This tradeoff has also been subject of the work in this Thesis.A proliferação do acesso à Internet permite aos utilizadores usar serviços disponibilizados diretamente através da Internet, o que se traduz numa mudança de paradigma na forma de usar aplicações e na forma de comunicar, popularizando desta forma o conceito denominado de cloud computing. Cloud computing traz consigo requisitos a dois níveis: ao nível da própria cloud, geralmente dependente de centros de dados centralizados, onde as tecnologias de informação e recursos de rede têm que ser capazes de garantir as exigências destes serviços; e ao nível do acesso, ou seja, dependendo do serviço que esteja a ser consumido, são necessários diferentes níveis de qualidade de serviço na rede de acesso, um domínio do operador de rede. Em síntese, existe uma clara dependência da cloud na rede. No entanto, o papel que a rede tem vindo a desempenhar neste âmbito é reduzido, sendo principalmente um fornecedor de conectividade (best-effort) tanto no dominio da cloud como no da rede de acesso. O trabalho desenvolvido nesta Tese permite uma integração efetiva dos domínios de cloud e operador de rede, dando assim à cloud o efetivo suporte da rede. Para tal, apresentamos uma plataforma e um conjunto de mecanismos associados para gestão e controlo integrado de domínios cloud computing e operador de rede por forma a fornecer serviços fim-a-fim. Além disso, elaboramos um estudo aprofundado sobre o mapeamento de recursos virtuais neste ambiente integrado. O estudo centra-se na maximização da incorporação de recursos virtuais na infraestrutura física por meio de estratégias de mapeamento ótimas (considerando a alocação inicial de recursos, bem como adaptações ao longo do tempo), enquanto que se minimizam os custos associados ao consumo de energia. Este estudo é feito para cenários de apenas um domínio e para cenários com múltiplos domínios. Além disso, exploramos como o operador de rede pode aproveitar o referido ambiente integrado para suportar funções de rede tradicionais. Neste sentido, estudamos como as funções de rede virtualizadas devem ser modeladas e geridas num ambiente cloud e estendemos a plataforma de acordo com este conceito. No âmbito desta Tese foi feita uma avaliação extensa das soluções propostas, avaliando os seus benefícios. Implementámos provas de conceito por forma a demonstrar as mais-valias, viabilidade e fácil implantação das soluções propostas. Além disso, a avaliação das estratégias de mapeamento foi realizada através de ferramentas de simulação e de programação linear inteira, mostrando que é possível reduzir o consumo de energia da infraestrutura física, sem comprometer a aceitação de recursos virtuais. Este aspeto pode ser melhorado através da adaptação de recursos virtuais ao longo do tempo. No entanto, deve-se ter em mente os custos associados aos processos de adaptação. Os custos podem ser minimizados, mas isso implica uma redução na aceitação de recursos virtuais. Esta compensação foi também um tema abordado nesta Tese

An ontology-based approach toward the configuration of heterogeneous network devices

Despite the numerous efforts of standardization, semantic issues remain in effect in many subfields of networking. The inability to exchange data unambiguously between information systems and human resources is an issue that hinders technology implementation, semantic interoperability, service deployment, network management, technology migration, among many others. In this thesis, we will approach the semantic issues in two critical subfields of networking, namely, network configuration management and network addressing architectures. The fact that makes the study in these areas rather appealing is that in both scenarios semantic issues have been around from the very early days of networking. However, as networks continue to grow in size and complexity current practices are becoming neither scalable nor practical. One of the most complex and essential tasks in network management is the configuration of network devices. The lack of comprehensive and standard means for modifying and controlling the configuration of network elements has led to the continuous and extended use of proprietary Command Line Interfaces (CLIs). Unfortunately, CLIs are generally both, device and vendor-specific. In the context of heterogeneous network infrastructures---i.e., networks typically composed of multiple devices from different vendors---the use of several CLIs raises serious Operation, Administration and Management (OAM) issues. Accordingly, network administrators are forced to gain specialized expertise and to continuously keep knowledge and skills up to date as new features, system upgrades or technologies appear. Overall, the utilization of proprietary mechanisms allows neither sharing knowledge consistently between vendors' domains nor reusing configurations to achieve full automation of network configuration tasks---which are typically required in autonomic management. Due to this heterogeneity, CLIs typically provide a help feature which is in turn an useful source of knowledge to enable semantic interpretation of a vendor's configuration space. The large amount of information a network administrator must learn and manage makes Information Extraction (IE) and other forms of natural language analysis of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field key enablers for the network device configuration space. This thesis presents the design and implementation specification of the first Ontology-Based Information Extraction (OBIE) System from the CLI of network devices for the automation and abstraction of device configurations. Moreover, the so-called semantic overload of IP addresses---wherein addresses are both identifiers and locators of a node at the same time---is one of the main constraints over mobility of network hosts, multi-homing and scalability of the routing system. In light of this, numerous approaches have emerged in an effort to decouple the semantics of the network addressing scheme. In this thesis, we approach this issue from two perspectives, namely, a non-disruptive (i.e., evolutionary) solution to the current Internet and a clean-slate approach for Future Internet. In the first scenario, we analyze the Locator/Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP) as it is currently one of the strongest solutions to the semantic overload issue. However, its adoption is hindered by existing problems in the proposed mapping systems. Herein, we propose the LISP Redundancy Protocol (LRP) aimed to complement the LISP framework and strengthen feasibility of deployment, while at the same time, minimize mapping table size, latency time and maximize reachability in the network. In the second scenario, we explore TARIFA a Next Generation Internet architecture and introduce a novel service-centric addressing scheme which aims to overcome the issues related to routing and semantic overload of IP addresses.A pesar de los numerosos esfuerzos de estandarización, los problemas de semántica continúan en efecto en muchas subáreas de networking. La inabilidad de intercambiar data sin ambiguedad entre sistemas es un problema que limita la interoperabilidad semántica. En esta tesis, abordamos los problemas de semántica en dos áreas: (i) la gestión de configuración y (ii) arquitecturas de direccionamiento. El hecho que hace el estudio en estas áreas de interés, es que los problemas de semántica datan desde los inicios del Internet. Sin embargo, mientras las redes continúan creciendo en tamaño y complejidad, los mecanismos desplegados dejan de ser escalabales y prácticos. Una de las tareas más complejas y esenciales en la gestión de redes es la configuración de equipos. La falta de mecanismos estándar para la modificación y control de la configuración de equipos ha llevado al uso continuado y extendido de interfaces por líneas de comando (CLI). Desafortunadamente, las CLIs son generalmente, específicos por fabricante y dispositivo. En el contexto de redes heterogéneas--es decir, redes típicamente compuestas por múltiples dispositivos de distintos fabricantes--el uso de varias CLIs trae consigo serios problemas de operación, administración y gestión. En consecuencia, los administradores de red se ven forzados a adquirir experiencia en el manejo específico de múltiples tecnologías y además, a mantenerse continuamente actualizados en la medida en que nuevas funcionalidades o tecnologías emergen, o bien con actualizaciones de sistemas operativos. En general, la utilización de mecanismos propietarios no permite compartir conocimientos de forma consistente a lo largo de plataformas heterogéneas, ni reutilizar configuraciones con el objetivo de alcanzar la completa automatización de tareas de configuración--que son típicamente requeridas en el área de gestión autonómica. Debido a esta heterogeneidad, las CLIs suelen proporcionar una función de ayuda que fundamentalmente aporta información para la interpretación semántica del entorno de configuración de un fabricante. La gran cantidad de información que un administrador debe aprender y manejar, hace de la extracción de información y otras formas de análisis de lenguaje natural del campo de Inteligencia Artificial, potenciales herramientas para la configuración de equipos en entornos heterogéneos. Esta tesis presenta el diseño y especificaciones de implementación del primer sistema de extracción de información basada en ontologías desde el CLI de dispositivos de red, para la automatización y abstracción de configuraciones. Por otra parte, la denominada sobrecarga semántica de direcciones IP--en donde, las direcciones son identificadores y localizadores al mismo tiempo--es una de las principales limitaciones sobre mobilidad, multi-homing y escalabilidad del sistema de enrutamiento. Por esta razón, numerosas propuestas han emergido en un esfuerzo por desacoplar la semántica del esquema de direccionamiento de las redes actuales. En esta tesis, abordamos este problema desde dos perspectivas, la primera de ellas una aproximación no-disruptiva (es decir, evolucionaria) al problema del Internet actual y la segunda, una nueva propuesta en torno a futuras arquitecturas del Internet. En el primer escenario, analizamos el protocolo LISP (del inglés, Locator/Identifier Separation Protocol) ya que es en efecto, una de las soluciones con mayor potencial para la resolucion del problema de semántica. Sin embargo, su adopción está limitada por problemas en los sistemas de mapeo propuestos. En esta tesis, proponemos LRP (del inglés, LISP Redundancy Protocol) un protocolo destinado a complementar LISP e incrementar la factibilidad de despliegue, a la vez que, reduce el tamaño de las tablas de mapeo, tiempo de latencia y maximiza accesibilidad. En el segundo escenario, exploramos TARIFA una arquitectura de red de nueva generación e introducimos un novedoso esquema de direccionamiento orientado a servicios